Washing machine recommendations

Milerix wrote: »

Hello, we are buying a house and will need to buy a washing machine. I'm not even sure where to start. What are the things to consider and where should I start looking?

Get a trial subscription to Which magazine and read some reviews would be a good start, also look out for deals coming up via hotukdeals.com, and don't forget Black Friday is just around the corner.

It depends to a large extent on the type of usage it's going to get. If your situation means you'll be doing one or two washes a week, there is an argument to say the most cheap 'n' cheerful machine you can find would be adequate. If you've got several kids and dogs, all with very muddy paws, and will be doing a lot more washes every week, it's probably sensible to shell out a bit extra on a "better" machine.

In terms of what's a "good" make, the short answer is "who knows?". Miele is generally well-regarded, but very expensive. Most of the other well-known brands you'll hear mixed reports about. There was a thread on here a few weeks ago asking a similar question. I remember it particularly because someone said they had a Bosch and it was a pile of rubbish. My Bosch has had 15 years of the aformentioned menagerie of muddy dogs and kids to deal with and has never missed a beat. You'll get loads of different views and experiences.

Perhaps the one bit of advice I would give - whatever make you end up with, try and go for the simplest one you can. My machine has got about 20 different settings on it, I doubt if I've ever used more than 2 or maybe 3 different programs in all the time we've had it.